So here's a little backstory: My FH and I are paying for the majority of our own wedding. My parents have covered a portion and his will be doing the rehearsal but most of it is on us. That being said, we have a ton of family and friends so the guest count is still relatively high. Ideally, we'll have 200 people show up but we had 246 invites that went out. Even with this number, we had to make SO MANY cuts. There are many people that I would like to attend but cannot afford to invite. SO here's where the humor comes in. I invited my mom's half siblings. We literally never see them. We live in TX and they live in NY. They make no effort to speak to us and I think I've met them twice in my lifetime... I invited them (and spouses) as a courtesy but I opted out of inviting their children for many reasons. A) I don't know them and my guest count is already too high B) If I invite one siblings kids, I have to invite all of them. My mom's half brother has SEVEN children. I would have had to reserve 14 more seats to invite their kids. I didn't really want to cut 14 more people for children that I don't even know. #sorrynotsorry PLUS I honestly didn't think they'd come anyway for many reasons. One of them being financial. You know when you make a guest list and automatically tick people off that will definitely not come in your head? This was one of those.
I mailed out my STD's for my October wedding last week and started getting the "Can't wait!" text messages from various people. Last night I got this message from my mom's half-sister:
"Hi, I got your save the date card. Are kids going to be able to come to the wedding? We are hoping to be able to come but I would have to bring the kids."
My response:
"Hi! Unfortunately, due to facility limits, we are at our absolute max capacity on guests. I'd love for y'all to be able to come and I wish I could invite everyone but we've hit our guest max."
Her response:
"Ok..... I was hoping you could meet your cousins" In another message, "They haven't even met their aunt (my mom)... maybe one day"
My response:
"I wish I could invite everyone that I really want to but FH and I are paying for the majority of this ourselves and have a limited budget. We had to make a ton of touch decisions with the guest list. I'm sorry! Hopefully we can come to NY and meet them all soon!"
Her response:
"Sorry I was hoping to come. I haven't seen your mom in 10 years." In another message: "I don't even have her phone number."
At this point I steered the conversation in the direction of me getting her my mom's phone number but for REAL???? I am in disbelief that you would even ask! My wedding is not a family reunion. You're more than welcome to come: I invited you. You're more than welcome to bring your kids to Texas. They just can't come to the wedding. If you miss my mother so much and are willing to tote your 5 kids down here than do it!!! Nobody is stopping you. I'm just amazed at the manner's people have.
***I just want to disclaim that I do not hate children. I just don't have the money to pay for 14 more people
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